Maybe it's the power of well brewed, superior German beer that can bring someone back from dead. Who knows? Fact is (I should better say opinion) that Tankard have recorded an album that totally and utterly crushes every album bands such as Kreator, Sodom or Destruction have released since the German thrash revival started a couple of years ago. To my ears this is a thousand times better than even the new Exodus. Who'd ever have thought that thrash 'the Frankfurt way' could sound better than one of the Bay Area legends?!? _Beast of Bourbon_ is easily the best Tankard album since _Chemical Invasion_. A totally brilliant and crushing sound, courtesy of Andy Claassen; frantically thrashing songs like "Under Friendly Fire", or the even better stuff from the second half of the album like "The Horde" or "Beyond the Pubyard"; cool solos: this is killer from start to finish. The only exception is the Cocksparrer cover, "We're Coming Back", which sounds far too German for its own good, but is fortunately put at the end of the record. Gerre and his fellow beer-drinkers have successfully gotten rid of all the melodic crap which made albums like _Disco Destroyer_ so atrocious, and replaced it with pure energy, fun and aggression. A prime example of a true return to form. Frankfurt thrashers do indeed, and once again, rule tonight!